


Dragon Queen

by neulry04



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25682836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neulry04/pseuds/neulry04
Summary: Eliza Strauss was the only one who could get close to the dragons without risk.Eliza's father was the most famous, and talented, dragonologist this world has ever seen, so she grew up around the fantastic beasts that the rest of the world call monsters. She also seemed to be the only person that any dragon didn't want to eat or burn to a crisp.Charlie Weasley had been working with dragons for a total of two years and in comes this girl. Fresh out of school, she struts in and is absolutely amazing at what she does. She is the first dragon veterinarian in the whole world and she is getting all the spotlight for it.All rights are JK Rowling's. She made most of the characters and the lovely world. Everything else is mine.
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Charlie Weasley/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a prologue to the story!

I have been around dragons my whole life. When I was very young, four I think, I went with my dad to work. I had gone before, much to my mum's dismay, but on that day, I was determined. I wanted to pet one of the dragons my dad trained. They were just so majestic, and I had never seen anything more beautiful in my short time on this earth.

So while we were walking the short distance from where we apparated to, I asked.

"Daddy," I spoke softly swinging our joined hands, "can I pet one of the dragons today?"

"Now, Eliza. Where would you get such a silly idea?" he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well, I just thought that's what you did," I remember frowning and staring at the ground in disappointment. He just shook his head, smiling. Then, I had a brilliant idea. I'd show him that I could pet a dragon, and then he'd let me work with him and his dragons.

When we finally got to his office, where I usually drew pictures of the dragons while my dad went and trained them, he plopped his stuff down on his desk and started putting on his usual gear. I sat down like normal and grabbed some art supplies from the drawers. I had formulated a master plan. My dad kissed me on the forehead as he started to leave. When he got to the door, he turned and smiled.

"You stay put. Don't get any ideas, okay?" he winked turning and leaving the room. He didn't suspect a thing.

After about three minutes of waiting, I slipped out of the office door. I looked both ways down the short hallway. To the right were the other offices, and to the left was the way to the enclosures.

I started on my way and got turned around twice because I ran into someone and had to say I was lost looking for the bathroom. When I finally found the door to the feeding entrances, I was really nervous. I went through the door, which was surprisingly unlocked. I looked in each window to see which one I wanted to go into.

I finally found one with a beautiful white dragon in it. There weren't many workers, most were taking notes or tending to the enclosure itself.

It seemed like the dragon was asleep. I opened the door with no problem again, which was probably not good. I crept into the rain forest atmosphere, trying to be as stealthy as I could. Walking through was pretty hard but when I finally got close enough to the beautiful creature, she started moving. At that point, I was close enough to touch her tail.

The large beast spun around slowly, which drew the attention of the other people working in the enclosure. They started whispering frantically, probably calling for my dad. But for some reason I don't remember feeling nervous or frightened, I just remember being in awe at the majesty of the creature.

She brought her face down to level with mine. I remember her looking me right in my eyes with her rainbow, pupilless ones. It's probably the most vivid of any of my memories. Even more evident than when my parents fought over unknown things, or when they finally divorced and my mom moved out of London.

With my tiny hand, I reached up hesitantly and put it between her eyes. For some reason, I could feel that she was a girl. Immediately when my hand came in contact with the soft scales on her forehead, she closed her gorgeous eyes. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and flashed as I heard the crash of a door being slammed open and a loud shout.

"Eliza Corinne Strauss, back up slowly." I heard my dad's voice, deathly calm. I looked up and saw how scared she was, and glared at the men behind me.

"Daddy, you're scaring her," I spoke in a calming tone, trying to comfort her, softly stroking the top of her neck. I heard the soft rustle of leaves as at least fifteen men with their wands out surrounded the dragon, scaring her even more.

With a loud 'Now!' all fifteen men cast spells to bind the creature, and I felt arms wrap around my waist and pull me backward. That's when all the commotion really started. The dragon started roaring and screeching, shooting scarlet flames every few seconds. Similarly, I was picked up into the air and screamed and threw my arms and legs around. I would like to say that it took at least four grown men to take me down.

It was a horrifying sight to see. The most beautiful being I'd ever seen was being tied down, miserable groans and shrieks of defeat happening every few seconds, and all I could do was sit and stare with wide tear-filled eyes. The worst part was that my dad, my hero, the only person I looked up to, was in the midst of it all. Calling out orders and shooting her with a few spells every now and then.

This was terrible and cruel in my eyes. It still is and, and unless other worse things happen, it will probably always be one of the most scarring events in my life.

After what felt like an eternity, the men dragged me out of the enclosure and back to my dad's office. I sat in his big cushy chair and pulled my knees up to my chest. After an hour or two, I heard a comforting voice.

"Hi, sweetie." my mum's voice was like a call from heaven. I spun the chair so I was facing her and looked up when I confirmed it was her.

"Mummy!" I exclaimed, sobbing. She held her arms out and I immediately hopped off the chair and ran towards the reassuring arms of my mother. She wrapped her thin arms around me and kissed my messy brown curls.

We walked out of the office building, Mum clenching my hand and her jaw simultaneously. On our way, I noticed every spare twig and bug on the forest floor. I guess it was because I was mortified and I was trying to distract myself, but it could be that it was more interesting than my mother's death grip on my hand or the angry accented muttering spewing from her lips.

Once we got to the apparation point she just looked at me for a minute. I was still sniffling and rubbing my eyes with my other hand.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked so softly that I wasn't completely sure if she said anything. But I nodded anyway. She pulled me in a bit closer and twisted. I felt the suction in my ears, but I had done it so many times I knew to keep my limbs in and eyes shut. We arrived on our front lawn. Our house was really pretty, with all the flowers, and the fresh light blue paint. We walked hand in hand up to the front porch and she pulled out her wand. She didn't say anything, but that's because she was one of the most gifted nonverbal spellcasters the American wizarding school, Ilvermorny, had ever seen.

She turned the knob, putting away her wand in the process. As we walked in, I was overwhelmed by the sense of home. It had been a long morning. My mum looked down at me smiling sadly.

"Baby, can you go pack up some of your stuff, I'll be up to help you after I make this call." she smiled again but it wasn't really a smile, it was more like a grimace. I nodded and headed down the short hallway toward my bedroom. I look around my dragon-covered walls. It was a huge mural covering all four of the walls. Each wall had a different species on it. I used to trace the outlines of the one against my bed with my fingers before I went to sleep.

I got into my wardrobe and pulled out a small suitcase. I put two shirts, one skirt, one pair of shorts, one pair of pants, a nightgown, a pair of trainers, three headbands, and of course my favorite toy which was a smaller version of a true racing broom because I loved watching quidditch with my dad. I sat down on my bed and grabbed my blanket off of my pillow. I pressed it to my face and inhaled it smelled like fresh flowers.

My mum found me like that ten minutes later. She looked at what I packed and put a few other things like my toothbrush and socks in the small bag. She zipped it when she was finished and turned towards me. She came over and sat next to me. She played with my hair for a few minutes and then sighed.

"I have to tell you something." she said, and I could tell she felt miserable about what she was saying, "Your dad and I are getting a divorce."

The rest is pretty much history. When the divorce finalized, my mum ended up winning the custody battle. The agreement was that I would live with my mom full time during the year in Georgia, US, and when summer came along I would come back to Britain and stay with my dad for the whole summer.

They also decided that I would get to choose which school I'd go to. That is if both Ilvermorny and Hogwarts sent me a letter, which they did. Of course, my parentage was part of the reason. My dad is a world-renowned Draonologist and my mum, well you know why she's special. The argument over where I would go went on for years until I got old enough to tell them that I would pick where I would pick and that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys, as of right now I'm not really talking to anyone, but this book is gonna be a little slow. I like to write novels and I have a good feeling about this one. So I'm having a really hard time with the timeline. Because this chapter is set in 1979, and I tried to put Crocs in and that didn't fit so then I tried jelly shoes, and that didn't work either, so I ended up with boring old trainers. Also, I'm from Texas, so I made her mom a muggle-born from the US and her dad a Dragonologist from Britain. So Eliza has a light accent and the magic, but she also knows quite a bit about muggle things and has some odd mannerisms. Anyway, this is an exciting process that I hope gives people entertainment. Much love for all. Love, Noelle


	2. The Eleventh Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza is awoken on her Birthday and is faced with a difficult decision!

I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light in my room. I blinked a few times, trying to force the sleepiness away. Looking around the familiar room that I knew I'd only see for three months and a couple of weeks out of the year, I stared at each dragon residing on my childhood walls.

The east wall had a group of smaller dragons flying around. Some were breathing fire and others were dive-bombing the forest floor. They were coppery colored and had very smooth looking scales. It was almost like a pack of wolf cubs playing and fighting as wild animals do. 

The south wall had a medium-sized, green dragon. It stood, proud-looking on the edge of a cliff. It had long horns protruding from its head, and sharp teeth coming out of its large open mouth. That was and still is the scariest painting of all the ones on my walls. Only because it was proud and sure of itself, and it looked so powerful. 

On the west wall was a pretty blue dragon. It was shooting flames into the black abyss, it's long body crouching as if it was about to pounce into darkness. It also had horns but these were beautiful and more slicked back to its body. On the black background, the blue scales and tan horns stood out.

Finally, on the north wall was where my bed was residing. I traced my fingers along the Hungarian Horntail's foot and tail. I looked at the rest of it, studying it for the millionth time. It was black and had tan-colored horns in a mane around its long neck. The large dragon was not showing off how far it's flame goes, nor did it seem like it was awake at all. It was curled up like a dog, sleeping. 

As I stared at the creature, I got a sudden realization. I was going to see my dragons today because it was my birthday. Not just any birthday though, that was my eleventh birthday. That meant that my letters from both Ilvermorny and Hogwarts came today, which was just another reason to excitedly hop out of bed and walk down the hallway towards the kitchen. 

I walked into the kitchen and my dad was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the Daily Prophet while my step-mom, Rachel, cleaned the counters. They both looked up when they heard the soft pads of my socked feet. My dad stood and met me in the middle of the kitchen to wrap me up in a big hug. 

“Happy Birthday, my Little Bee,” he whispered into my hair. I smiled into his chest and pushed away so that I could see his face. He was kinda gruff-looking with scars all over his hands and arms but he still was pretty handsome for an old guy. He had a scruffy stubble that sometimes got stuck in my hair when he hugged me. 

“Thanks, Dad. So... ?” I smiled up at him, intrigued. I was expecting something in the mail, and I figured it would have already been delivered since the Daily Prophet was. He turned, knowing exactly what I wanted, and walked to the counter where Rachel was still standing, smiling at us. I followed after a second, giving him space so I wouldn't seem too eager. He turned back around with two letters in hand. One was parchment and the other looked like it's just made out of a nice kind of paper. 

I took both out of his hands and smiled very widely. I sat down at the table, trying to contain my excitement, but I was doing a very bad job at it. Both Rachel and Dad were standing over my shoulder while I opened both letters. I quickly scanned through them and then turned around and breathed deeply.

“I think I know where I want to go,” I spoke slowly, and the adults behind me looked startled.

“Well, honey you have a little bit of time if you want to think some more.” my dad said reasonably, and I shook my head. I had been thinking about this decision for years, and I’d known where I wanted to go for weeks, I just didn't want to make a final decision until I truly knew, and I did.

“I want to go to Hogwarts, like you, Dad.” I smiled unsure, up at him. I had always wanted to make him proud and I thought I could do that at Hogwarts. I also really wanted to be closer to my dragons and the only way to do that would be to live closer to my dad. He nodded, smiled, and looked at Rachel, who was also smiling timidly. She started at Hogwarts when my dad was in his sixth year, but they didn't meet until he was at a Ministry function and she was there too. She was very pretty, had brown hair and green eyes, kinda like me, and she was really sweet. 

“Okay, well, you'll need to call your mum and tell her your decision, and I’ll write Ilvermorny and tell them to not expect you. Perhaps we’ll take the brooms out for a little celebration this evening,” he looked at me inquisitively, “Are you sure?” 

I nodded and stood. I strolled over to the wall phone and dialed my mom's telephone number. It rang three times before she finally picked up on the other end. 

“Hello?” she answered in her strong southern accent. My stomach starts to do flips, and I breathe deeply to try to soothe my nerves.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, trying to be cheerful. I heard her laugh and call out to my grandma, telling her that I’m on the phone.

“Hi, baby, happy birthday!” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, and my voice cracked a bit.

“So, did you get your letters?”

“Yes, ma’am, I did.”

“Did you decide?”

“Yeah, I think I did.” I spoke slowly, “I’m gonna go to Hogwarts, Mom.”

There was a moment of silence where I could hear my grandma saying ‘what’d she say?’ and my mom breathed in and out heavily.

“Well, Ilvermorny is gonna miss out on a fantastic witch, aren’t they?” I could hear the slight disappointment in her tone but she still seemed happy.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said relieved that it's over. 

“Are you and your dad leaving soon?” she asked me gently. 

“Yes, ma’am, I think so.” I looked over at my dad who was writing a response to either Ilvermorny or Hogwarts, I wasn’t sure which. 

“Well have fun and be safe, they’re wild creatures, you know.” I rolled my eyes at this because she’d said this every year since I started going when I was six, “And don't you roll your eyes at me. I know that you're very interested in your father’s work, but it is not something to be aloof about. It is very dangerous, and you’re lucky to get to go.”

“I know, Mom,” I said slightly, aghast at the fact that she knew that I had rolled my eyes. She was an amazing witch, so it wouldn't have surprised me if she could Legilimens me over the phone. 

“Well, your grandmother wants to talk to you.” she said, “I love you, I’ll talk to you later, baby.”

“I love you too,” I said, and then I proceeded to talk to my muggle grandma for thirty minutes, and I couldn't tell you how many times I tried to say goodbye and then got roped into another conversation, but finally she said she had to go and said she loved me profusely before hanging up the phone. I breathed out a sigh of relief, and my dad looked over and chuckled.

“Go get ready, we’re going to leave in...” he looked at the watch on his wrist that partially covers a six-inch-long burn scar, “Thirty minutes.”

I nodded and rushed to my room. I changed into a pair of long jeans, a wild grin spreading across my face. Walking over to my wardrobe, I threw open the doors and dug a bit until I found an old wooden box. I pulled the box from under the pile of clothes and set it gently on my bed. I pulled out my drabbiest set of robes, and put them on over my jeans and pulled on a pair of thick socks. 

I sat on the edge of my bed, thrilled to be opening this box for another year in a row. This box, intricately designed with a burning vine, had been given to me by my grandfather on my dad’s side. He used to tell me this silly story of how he cut down the tree that it was made from after a dragon had scorched the top of it. I realized when I got older that he was just telling me a story to make it cooler, but I thought it was pretty cool no matter what. I slowly undid the latch on the front and opened the top.

The contents of the box were very focused on one specific event that happened once a year. My dragon-hide gloves sat underneath a pair of dragon-hide boots. There was a pair of fire-proof goggles and a small photo album. I opened the book and looked through the many pictures of me from ages six to ten, standing next to various dragons of all shapes and sizes, in most of them I had my hands resting on the dragons or I leaned against them as if they were my old friends. Most of the pictures had a short caption to it, some written in neat handwriting, and others in large letters written, primarily, in crayon. 

I placed the book back in the box and closed it, after making sure I’d put everything I needed in the box. I leaned over and slipped some trainers on and got up from my bed and walked across the hall to my bathroom and pulled my toothbrush from the medicine cabinet. I left the bathroom and checked the hall clock, and I still had five minutes, so I walked back into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I pulled out a hairbrush from one of the drawers and ran it through my hair a few times before I decided it was pointless and just put it up into a ponytail. 

I walked back into my room, grabbed the box from where I left it and strolled into the kitchen where my dad was standing with his briefcase and two brown paper bags. 

“Ready?” he spoke, and I nodded and then remembered I needed to eat something before I went. I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter and followed my dad out the door. We walked for a few blocks through the small muggle suburb outside of London and I watched all of the interesting people around me. An older man was walking down his porch steps in a long robe that looked similar to something my father would wear to an important meeting. However, this man looked like he just rolled right out of bed, and it was pretty early in the morning. He bent down when he reached a newspaper and stood straight and that's when he saw us.

“Good Morning.” The man spoke to us from across the street. He looked perplexed as to why two people might be out walking so early in the morning on a Saturday. I suppose that might not have been what he was confused about since we were wearing our dragon training clothes. Dad raised his eyes from his watch to the old man and gave a chipper smile. 

“G’ morning. What’s in the paper today?” he asked nonchalantly, stopping in his tracks. The man looked surprised by the question but opened the paper nonetheless. He scanned it for a second and nodded when he found something satisfactory.

“A shopping mall burnt down in Watford early this morning.” These words seemed to agitate my father, but at the time I didn't understand why.

“Hm, does it say if there was a cause?”

“Not in this paper. They probably haven’t gotten much information quite yet.” 

“You're quite right I suppose. Have a nice day sir.” he nods at the man and grips my hand a bit harder as he walks. The man retreated and returned inside as we walked on. I looked up at my father and he was gritting his teeth and speeding up his pace. 

“Is everything alright, Dad?” I asked, breaking the uneasy silence. He looked down at me and squeezed my hand.

“I’m alright, we just need to get to the office now.” he pulled me in closer, still walking, and I braced myself knowing what this meant. He squeezed my hand three times, and on the third one, we both spun sharply on the spot and shut our eyes. I heard loud popping noises and I tried to keep my arms in, close to my chest. Suddenly, I felt my feet touch the ground, and I opened my eyes to the beautiful green grass of Romania in the summertime. The flowers blooming outside of the small looking establishment we were standing in front of were magnificent. I was so excited that I jumped up and squealed, which was very unusual for me, and my dad noticed and snorted but started to walk fast into the little shack. I walked behind him, but a little slower so I could take in all of the glorious things that were being presented to my eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, welcome back! I'm so excited at how well this turned out and I feel pretty good about the remainder. I worked really hard on this so any feedback you have, feel free to comment or message me. The first few chapters are gonna be really introductory so please bear with me with the slow burn! Love, Noelle


	3. Saving a Redhead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get to see Eliza and Charlie meet for the very first time and it may or may not be extremely rough.

I walked through the door that my dad held open for me, a small thank you crossed my lips as I hurried past. I smiled at the change of scenery as you walked in. It goes from a dingy little shed to a magnificent office with a beautiful mural of all kinds of dragons on the east wall. I knew everyone who worked at the dragon reserve, however, the young lady sitting at the reception desk was unknown to me. She smiled very widely at my dad, who awkwardly smiled back. As handsome as he was my dad was one of the most socially inept people I knew which is why I was so surprised when he talked to the old man earlier that day. He works with dragons because he doesn't like to talk to people. My mind and eyes traveled back to the young women, who had a pixie cut of brown hair, and a very skinny neck. I looked at her as she kept her eyes on my dad for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

“Good Morning, Mr. Strauss,” she let out these words as a sign that she seemed to be holding for a very long time. I looked back and forth between her and my father who seemed more uncomfortable than before. He nodded at her and continued to walk towards the desk so he could sign me in. She kept staring as he looked at the visitor sign-in parchment and only looked away when she realized what he was doing. “Oh, is this your daughter? How precious. You know I have a niece about her age, maybe I could invite her over and you both could come to my house and they could have a playdate while we-” 

“I’m eleven,” I spoke bluntly so she would stop embarrassing herself.

“Excuse me?” she blinked at me stupidly.

“I’m eleven. I’m too old for playdates. And I’m sure your niece is nice enough but I don't do too well with girly-girls.” my dad chuckles and grabs my hand.

“Now, darling, don't be rude. Sherry is it?” he asked in her direction, which made her start twitching, “You’ll have to excuse us, I’m running a bit late and we have to run.”

She nodded fastly and looked down at the visitor sheet as we started to walk away. 

“Have a nice day Eliza.” I smiled at her even though she seemed kinda annoying to me. I kept walking and I rounded the corner and ran smack into a large man who grunted, but then started laughing and picked me up, spinning me around. I was shocked by the sudden embrace. I then realized who it was and started giggling along with him. He put me down and I stared into his bearded face. I’ve known this man since I could remember and he was just as big and scary looking as ever. 

“Happy birthday little Lizzy.” he boomed down at me. 

“Thank you, Uncle Craig.” I grinned up at him.

“So, which did you choose?” I bit my lip because I still felt nervous that my mom might be upset. Uncle Craig is my mom’s brother and he went to Ilvermorny. I knew he wouldn't care but I felt like I was letting my mom down with the decision I made. I smiled still and he ruffled my hair.

“I chose Hogwarts, actually.” he nodded and smirked.

“I could’ve guessed you would do that. It's a great school to go to, you'll be very happy there.” I like the way he talked to me. It was like I was an adult and I felt important even if we were talking about something childish and irrelevant. I nodded in response and he started to walk in the opposite direction, “See you in a bit.” 

I walked on and entered my dad's office and saw him sitting there in his swivel chair, his elbows resting on the desk and his head in his hands. I stared for a second and then decided to make my presence known. 

“Are you alright?” I ask a bit tentatively. He looked up with frustration in his eyes. He shook his head and stood abruptly.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” he stalked out of his office. I started to sit down but I decided I’d follow him because I knew whatever he was upset about had to be interesting.

I peeked my head out the door and saw him walk around a corner to the right. I crept after him swiftly, and I tried to stay as quiet as possible. I knew that he was walking in the direction of the enclosures and I got an excited feeling in my stomach. I caught a glimpse of him as I rounded the corner, but to my disappointment, he wasn't going into the hall of enclosures, instead, he walked into the staffroom. I walked closer to the door and listened for my dad’s voice. 

“How could you let this happen?” His voice was intense and it kind of scared me.

“I’m sorry sir, we didn't realize she had escaped until it was too late.” a man spoke softly back.

“You realize that you and your team have let one of the most dangerous creatures in the world escape?” the other man stayed quiet, “That dragon burnt down a shopping mall this morning, and it was in the muggle news.”

“Yes sir, I understand, but I promise we will have her back as soon as we can.” 

“You better, or your job is on the line.”

“Yes sir, I understand.”

I hear footsteps approach the door, so I start to sprint back to his office. I don't think he saw me but as I made a sharp left turn into his office, I got a shock. There was a young boy there already sitting patiently in one of the chairs. I was very confused and immediately halted. 

“Who are you?” The boy jumped and turned around. His appearance surprised me. He had a spread of freckles across his nose and very vibrant red hair. He looked a few years older than me and he was very surprised to see me as well. He squinted as if to see me better and then tilted his head. I felt anxious for some reason, and he was making me uncomfortable so I crossed my arms. He stopped studying me and smiled dopily.

“I’m Charlie, Charlie Weasley, and you are?” he grinned standing up from his chair and reaching his hand out. I got more nervous as he stood because he was a great deal taller than me, but I put my hand out nonetheless. He shook it firmly. 

“Eliza Strauss, nice to meet you.” he gasped and kept holding my hand. I started to get a little freaked out and pulled away aggressively. 

“You're Eric Strauss’s daughter?” he looked utterly shocked. I nodded and he took my hand in his again and shook it ferociously. I was saved from the odd boy because my dad walked in and the boy’s attention was immediately turned away from me. He walked toward him, suddenly very cool-headed, and held his hand out as he introduced himself. My dad smiled and patted the boy on the back. He looked up at me and winked and gestured for me to follow them.

We walked toward the enclosures and entered the correct hallway this time. I started to put my gear on and I noticed Charlie was shaking a bit. 

“It's alright, there’s no need to be nervous, as long as I'm there you'll be ok.”I walked next to him and patted him on the shoulder. He looked down at me and looked confused, “You’ll see.”

My dad showed Charlie some extra gear but it fit him very loosely. I smiled at him when he was ready. My dad pulled his wand out and unlocked the door. They stopped using alohomora since my incident and used a stronger locking charm. I walked in after him and Charlie was right behind me. He started to look around and I giggled at how nervous he was. I turned and saw exactly what I wanted to. A large dragon that was milky white and had rainbow pupilless eyes was lying down in the far corner of the huge enclosure. She was an Antipodean Opaleye, and I liked to call her Dalia.

I walked over to her and she lifted her large head in my direction. Her eyes were just as beautiful as they were when I was five. Somehow, even though I only see her once a year, she still remembers who I am. She stands up and stretches kind of similar to a dog and starts to stalk towards me. Anyone else in this situation would probably be completely terrified, but I wasn't scared at all. I turn my head and see Charlie and my dad standing a bit further back and just watching. When I turned back around, she had leveled herself with me and was staring into my eyes, I could feel her warm breath on my face. I smiled and reached my hand up and rested it between her beautiful eyes. They automatically shut and I shut my eyes as well. It felt like our minds were one when we did this, even though we couldn't talk or anything, but it felt like I knew what she was thinking. I heard a rustle of leaves behind me and our eyes flew open, I turned my head a bit and saw Charlie stopped dead in his tracks. I smirked and gestured for him to come closer. He walks slowly but still excited. I turned back to Dalia and rubbed her head, she seemed a little nervous but I was soothing her. As he got almost level with me, her nose started to smoke, and my eyes widened at her. She almost immediately stopped smoking and bowed her head toward the ground. He came closer and I grabbed his hand and replaced mine with his. His face was priceless and he looked at me and smiled so widely and I smiled back, but we were a little close for comfort so I stepped a little away. As soon as I moved Dalia’s head snapped up and she made a low rumbling noise and Charlie pulled his hand away, and tried to walk back a bit but he ended up on the ground. She reared back and I heard my dad start to run toward us, but I stepped in front of Charlie. 

“Dad, I’ve got it, trust me,” I yell not removing my eyes from her. I heard the footsteps stop, and the heavy breathing of the young boy behind me. I stare into her eyes.

“Stop, you're good. Prove to them that you're good.” she lowered her stance to a more neutral one and I continued to talk to her very calmly, “He’s not going to hurt you, he is good.” 

She turned her head and huffed but she unfurled her wings and took to the air, flying to another area of the enclosure. I turn around and dust off my hands on my jeans, and reach a hand out to Charlie, who took it gratefully. I helped him up and patted him on the shoulder as I passed him and walked back to my dad. 

“Violence doesn't fix everything, Dad.” he grimaced as I walked out of the enclosure. I hated it when people underestimate my relationship with the dragons. They aren't dangerous creatures to me, we understand each other. I heard fast footsteps behind me and a heavy hand on my shoulder which spun me around. 

“Thank you for that.” it was Charlie standing there smiling at me and kinda shaking. My teeth clenched, I shrugged and knocked his hand off and he pulled away and looked a little offended. Who did he think he was? He was intruding on my special day and that wasn’t fair. 

“It wasn't a big deal,” I said, turning back to go visit my other dragons. He stared after me not understanding what he did wrong. For the rest of the day he followed me around and asked me questions, he asked me how old I was, I said I turned eleven today. He asked where I was going to school, I said Hogwarts, he said he goes there. He told me he was going into his third year there, and as much as I wanted to ask him about his experience, I was still frustrated. I didn't realize he’d be thinking about me until he saw me again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Y'all! This whole chapter made me really happy to write, even though it's not as good as a few other things I've written. I'm happy with it though! Remember to tell me what you think cause I love to hear it!


	4. Year One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza makes her way to Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, through a sorting ceremony, and home all in one chapter.

The next few weeks were kinda crazy and the red-haired boy left my mind as my dad and I tried to plan a time where we could shop for the supplies for my first year in Diagon Alley. As soon as we figured it out I got so excited that I was finally branching out into a whole new part of my life. The rest of the summer flew by and my dad even let me return to the reserve, even though usually I'd only get to go the one time on my birthday. I think he thought it wasn't fair that I had to share my day with a random kid. We went to Diagon Alley two weeks before September 1st and got all of the supplies I would need. I think I might have seen the boy while we were out shopping, but I tried to stay away from him because of the way I acted. I realized days after the incident that it was unreasonable for me to be mad at him and he didn't do anything wrong. If anything I was in the wrong in that situation.

When the time came to board the Hogwarts Express, I was more nervous than I'd ever been in my life. The platform was packed full of people I didn't know and faces I'd never seen, and they all seemed to know each other. At one point my dad found Charlie and his family and started conversing while I just stood in the back. He waved at me and I just blushed and looked down from embarrassment. I was also noticing his freckles which were kinda cute and I didn't want to let him know that I thought that.

His family seemed very nice, although he had a lot of siblings. His mom, who looked kind, was holding a young girl, maybe three or so, on her hip, Ginny. There was a boy, possibly a year older, hugging her leg, Ronald. A boy, probably a year younger than me, was standing near me, looking very put together while I was a very nervous wreck.

"I'm going to Hogwarts next year." He said all of a sudden, and my head snapped up at him. I was quite a bit shorter than him, but that wasn't saying much since he was very lanky for his age. I nodded and was trying to decide if I wanted to respond when we heard a loud crash.

We all turned around and saw two stocky young boys running toward us with wide grins on their faces.

"Fred! Put that down right now." Mrs. Weasley sighed at them, but the boys looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Mum, you gave birth to us and can't get our names right." The boy who was holding the handle of a trolley-cart, George, spoke up. The other one started laughing heartily and shook his head. I guessed that was Fred. The oldest looking boy, Bill, snatched it from his brother's hands laughing and questioning how he managed it.

"They will never make it at Hogwarts with those antics." Percy looked exasperated. I was stunned by his lack of humor, but I also thought I could appreciate the strictness. He seemed nice enough so I decided I'd stand with him for a while. I frowned at the thought and then I heard a loud whoosh from behind me.

I jumped and turned around, and there stood my beautiful mother in all her glory. She had cut her hair since I last saw her and she was wearing a very American outfit but I ran to her and hugged her anyway. She wrapped me in her arms and kissed me on my hair, but pulled away when she felt the same staring I was. As I turned around my dad moved around Percy and went to hug my mom.

"How are you, Mila?" He asks as he embraces her. She smiled and returned the hug which made me happy to see them get along so well. They used to be angry with each other but I guessed they were fine now.

"I'm really good, Eric, thank you." As soon as she spoke a few people looked at her and decided that they had heard an American accent and were shocked by it. I walked back towards Percy and the Weasleys and they looked a little surprised as well.

"That's my mom," I said abruptly, "she's an American."

You could hear my mom's heavy Georgia accent over the buzz of the crowd. Mr. Weasley looked very excited.

"The Americans are much better at using muggle devices than we are, Molly." He spoke to his wife and rushed over to Mom. They delved into a long conversation, where he found out that she and her brother were muggle-born. He was fascinated, and I started conversing with Percy and his brothers, except for Charlie, who hung back and looked a little sad.

Before we knew it we needed to board the Hogwarts Express. I asked Bill to help me with my trunk and he smiled kindly. I let him lead the way to a compartment and we found an empty one fairly quickly and he loaded my luggage, which would have been more difficult if Charlie hadn't helped. I tried to thank him for the task but he left very quickly, so I just thanked Bill.

"It wasn't a problem," he shrugged, "and it was a pleasure meeting you, Eliza." He winked and left as well. I pulled down the window to wave at my parents and they were standing on the platform next to the rest of the Weasley clan. My mom was sobbing and Dad was consoling her as he waved goodbye and blew dozens of kisses. I smiled and teared up a bit and before I knew it the train started rolling out. I put the window up and sat down.

When I sat, however, there were more people than before. There was a boy who had curly black hair and tanned skin and was silently crying. A girl sat on my side, a seat away. She had her dark hair in two buns on the sides of her head and she was frantically searching for something in her lap. The seat across from me contained a heavy set girl who was smiling out the window. I readjusted my skirt and stared at the other girl's lap as well. There didn't seem to be anything there.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked her softly as to not startle her, which didn't work anyway since she jumped and flung a large toad across the cabin. My jaw dropped, but luckily the sad boy caught the frog with one hand out of the air. I was stunned, to say the least.

"Thanks." She said as the boy handed it to her.

"I'm so sorry," I spoke up after a silence, but she just shook her head and groaned.

"Why did I ever decide to get a dumb toad?" She laughed, the other girl laughed after the toad tried to squirm out of her hands, and I started chuckling as well. The sad boy did as well.

"Eliza Strauss." I reached out my hand to shake hers and she held up the toad as to signify, " I would but."

"Leena Brown." She nodded and turned to the boy, "and you are?"

"Carlos Jiménez." He reached out and shook my hand.

"I'm Natalia, but you may call me Nat if you'd like." The girl across from me spoke in an unexpected heavy French accent. I smiled and shook her hand. We continued the ride talking and musing about Hogwarts, and the things we'd learn. We had to change into our robes and me, Leena, and Nat walked down the row of compartments to the bathroom. When we got there the door opened and hit me right in the face. I fell to the ground and Leena and Nat gasped. The person who opened the door was a girl with short spiky hair and was wearing green Slytherin robes. She looked down at me and chuckled.

"Are you in your first year?" I nodded in response, "Well you should try to stay out of the way, don't want to get stepped on." She rose her foot, and I heard footsteps from the compartment closest.

"Leave her alone, Merula." I heard a familiar voice and tilted my head back since I was still on the floor. I saw Charlie Weasley in a carefree stance with his arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe.

"Or what, Weasley?" She sneered.

"She hasn't done anything to you, you hit her with the door." She thought for a second and then something dawned on her.

"You're right, Weasley," she helped me up, and I stared at her, "And hey if you get into Slytherin, maybe we could be friends. I'll be watching for you." She looked at Charlie again and smirked maliciously like she was trying to hurt him. He stared back with a blank face. I turned to thank him but he had already retreated into the compartment. Leena pulled me towards the restroom door and Nat followed us in. It was a single stall bathroom with a sink and an ironic lock on the door. I twisted it anyway and let Nat take the stall. I changed as quickly as possible and we headed back.

When we got to the compartment Carlos asked what took us so long and we told him the story. Carlos said that Charlie is just like that, a natural-born leader, and way too kind for his own good. I wondered how he got this information but I did enjoy receiving it since I had a feeling I wouldn't be talking to Charlie very much that year.

We got to the Hogsmeade Station and the first years met Hagrid, who knew me by name already and asked me about my dad immediately. We rode boats across the lake and I and my friends convinced him to let us sit four to a boat instead of three. We got there in one piece and we headed off to wait in the corridor behind the great hall. We were called in and we were told to stand in front of the hat.

I don't remember much about the song he sang or the people who went ahead of me other than Leena and Carlos, who both got into Ravenclaw. All of a sudden Professor McGonagall called my name and my brain stopped. Percy nudged me forward and I started walking. My legs were shaking and I was so scared. I sat on the stool and the hat was placed on my head, and all I could think was, "Oh no, what if I get lice from this hat?" But then I heard a grumpy voice in my head.

"We're thinking about head lice, are we?" It said. I giggled nervously.

"You have so much bravery in here, with your odd passion for dragons, but you also have a loyal soul that is unmeasurable."

It started to sound like he wanted me in Hufflepuff which would have been fine, but I still panicked anyway and fell off the stool. I heard a loud gasp from everyone in the great hall because I had just noticed I closed my eyes without realizing it. I stood abruptly and put a thumbs up to signal that I was ok, and sat back down.

"You're clumsy, but that's not going to affect anything. The biggest thing I see here is your intelligence. You have such intellect that it allows you to communicate on another level. You are witty and charming when needed." And the voice was suddenly not in my head anymore, it was out loud.

"Better be... Ravenclaw for the clumsy one." I pulled it off my head, placed it on the stool, and walked carefully to the loudest table. They were shouting and hollering for the new addition, me. I sat down next to Carlos and Leena and they were ecstatic. I was smiling, happy with the choice made. Nat was placed in Gryffindor soon after me.

There was a short speech, containing something about cursed vaults and some maintenance of the school, but I then realized I just wanted to eat, I was so hungry. The feast came and I met a prefect and the Headboy and girl came over to greet us. It was a very family-like atmosphere. A boy named Andre Egwu sat not too far from us and conversed a little bit, but before we knew it, it was time to leave for the common room. Before we left though I ran over to Nat and told her we'd see her in the morning and that I was happy she got into Gryffindor.

When we reached the entrance to the common room, I realized that it was a door with an enchanted knocker that told you riddles to get into the dorms. The head boy knocked and stood next to the door.

"Welcome back Students." A voice spoke very clearly. "What is the freedom of birds and the pen of old men?"

In my head, I thought for a second and I said under my breath, "Feather." Leena elbowed me and told me to say it louder but I shook my head, and just then the head girl said feather as well. The door swung open and we flooded through. I was amazed at the beautiful common room but I was also very tired so after exploring for a few minutes I asked Leena if we could go to bed. We went up to the dorms and went into the door labeled first years.

The room was huge with five four-poster beds draped with curtains of blue and my trunk sat at the foot of the bed closest to the bathroom that joined with the room. I sat on the bed and was amazed at how comfortable it was. I meant to meet my other dorm mates but I fell asleep as soon as my head met the pillow.

The rest of the first semester flew by so fast. I spent a lot of time studying with Leena, Carlos, and Kat who didn't like her dorm mates at all. My favorite class was Transfiguration because of the attitude that Professor McGonagall gives to the students. I was doing great in all of my classes and often felt very bored by the work, but I enjoyed having time to help my friends if they were struggling, Kat was the only one who ever really did. It wasn't until a few weeks before Christmas that anything interesting happened.

I was walking downstairs to the dungeon on my way to Potions with Hufflepuff when I saw a shot of flame that I knew I'd seen before. I rushed down the stairs and saw it. In the open corridor, there was a large dragon shooting flame everywhere and my mom and dad were on the floor burned and it looked like they were dying. I ran at my parents and blocked them from the view of the dragon. I looked in its eyes to try and find the spark of good I see in every dragon but instead, I saw pure hatred towards me and everything.

After seeing this murderous beast for who it was I let out a shriek so loud that the dragon reared its head. I heard the running footsteps of people and someone pulled me away and held me to their chest.

"Riddikulus!" A loud booming voice shouted as I sobbed into this stranger. I then realized what I was doing and pulled away quickly, and I'm glad I did because it was Professor Snape, and if I'd stayed longer he probably would have ridiculed me. I then turned around in fear of the situation but everything seemed back to normal other than the crowd of students who came to see what happened. Professor Dumbledore was standing in the middle of the crowd, a few feet from me, wand in hand. Snape was looking at me startled, and I was confused.

"What just happened?" I said with a bit more of my American accent coming out. Everyone looked at me since I was the first one to talk in a few seconds. Dumbledore smiled at my question.

"Well, Ms. Strauss, that was a boggart. They show a person their deepest fears. Yours, child, was a very scary thought indeed." I looked up at him and he smiled reassuringly, so I decided I'd go pick up the things I had dropped but I noticed they weren't where I left them.

"Here you go." Leena was offering my bag to me and Carlos had my water bottle and wand in his hands. He offered me a shy smile and placed the items carefully in my hands. I nodded a thank you and walked off toward the potions classroom without a look back, and I could hear my friends following, and snickering about how nonchalant I was.

I tried hard not to think about that for the remainder of class, but then we had to go to lunch, but I didn't think the news would have spread at all, since it wasn't news, but I was wrong. When I walked into the Great Hall, the room went silent like they were all talking about me. I had stayed behind in potions to help Snape clean up, and so I did show up a bit late and I was alone, or at least I thought I was, but then I felt a slight presence.

I turned my head and it was Charlie, he was standing and looking at me. It felt like he was examining me to make sure I was ok. I smiled at him and immediately as if that was the proof he needed he grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the corridor. The rumble started up as we left. I was very confused and uncomfortable since he hadn't talked to me in months and all of a sudden he wants to talk.

"Are you ok?" He spoke softly.

"Umm. Yeah, I think so." I responded shortly but he just gave me, what my mom likes to call, a no-bs look. So I sighed. He started to rock back and forth on his heels because of the awkwardness of the situation.

"I heard about what happened, and it sounded really bad." I shrugged because it wasn't that bad, at least that's what I told myself at the time. He then rolled his eyes and straightened his robes. I then decided to ask the questions that have my curiosity burning.

"Why are you talking to me now?" He looked a little stunned by the question, and he tried to say something but nothing was coming out. "Because the last three times I tried to talk to you, you disappeared."

"My feelings were a little hurt I guess."

"Wow. Your feelings were hurt? You wouldn't even let me apologize." I spoke through gritted teeth, "Or say thank you for all the nice things you did. I thought you hated me. So my feelings were a bit hurt, not because I thought you hated me, but because I thought you weren't going to give me a chance."

He looked a little dumbfounded.

"And now you come running to play knight in shining armor and try to talk to me for the first time in months. You don't deserve to know if I'm ok or not. We're not friends!" I yelled at him, "You lost that privilege when you refused to speak to me. And I don't think I would want to be your friend anyway!"

"Oh wow, you think I want to be your friend?" He scoffed, "You were so rude to me at the reserve and then when we saw each other again you wouldn't even make eye contact with me."

I started to become angrier as I spoke to him with his infuriating face.

"And when your dad asked me to look out for you, I thought I'd do him a favor since he was cool to me," he pointed at my chest, "But you're so indescribably infuriating to me, I don't think I could even do that for him, so no I don't want to be your friend."

"That's perfectly fine by me. You're a stubborn, petulant boy, who wouldn't know a dragon if it came up and burnt his eyebrows off." His jaw dropped and then he turned around and stormed off. I heard a low whistle as my heart raced from adrenaline.

"Lovers quarrel?" I heard a mocking voice from behind me. I spun around and saw Merula smirking at me. I glared and stalked off toward the Ravenclaw Tower.

For the remainder of my first year, any time I'd see Charlie Weasley, I'd glare and he'd roll his eyes, but we didn't speak. As much as my friends asked what happened it didn't feel right telling them what happened.

It felt like I was holding my breath anytime I'd see him and it was so hard to be around him without getting upset. We both said some pretty mean things and I didn't want to bring them to the attention of people who liked me. What if it changed their opinion of me?

Overall the breaks I went to my mom's and spent lots of time learning to play the piano, which my mom was super excited about. She had an amazing voice and she thought when I got older I'd have one too. But I had to go back to school but the year was over before I knew it and I had to say goodbye to my new best friends. While we were on the Hogwarts express home my friends were all talking about summer plans. They were always fascinated to hear about my dragons and were always asking questions.

"Can you please explain how I'm supposed to do my homework if I'm not allowed to do magic?" Kat looked over a piece of parchment with our summer assignments on them. We all chuckled at her exasperation with school, even though it's only been one year. Her green eyes shut and she started muttering in French under her breath. This caused us all to laugh louder.

She did this often, anytime she got frustrated she would switch back to French and we'd have to guess at what she was saying. Carlos got up and stepped towards her and crouched in front of her. He took the paper from her clenched fists and read it over again.

“Most of it is writing papers,” she glanced up at him, her green eyes filled with a strong fire, “And what isn't isn't actual spellwork, just wand movement. Don’t worry, you can send me an owl if you get confused.”

She nodded and he smiled at her, placed the parchment on her lap, stood, and returned to his seat next to me. I'd learned a lot about my friends in the year previous. Carlos was insanely smart and had the fastest reflexes I'd ever seen. He wanted to be the Ravenclaw seeker ever since we went to our first quidditch match and watched Charlie Weasley play against Hufflepuff. That's why Carlos knows so much about Charlie, he is Carlos's idol and one of the best quidditch players Hogwarts had seen.

Leena was a strongly opinionated girl who loved to argue topics. Her mane of curls was always kept nice and neat, sleek with oils and gels. She liked to keep a perfect appearance and she never left her part of the dorm a mess. As smart as she was, she was very bad at riddles and I couldn't count the number of times I'd found her yelling at the door, arguing why riddles were stupid.

Kat was a plump little thing and had severe Rosacea on her chubby cheeks. She had thick-lensed glasses and a mouth full of nonstraight teeth but she was still pretty somehow. I could never pull any of that off. She had an amazing sense of humor and laughed about basically everything, even when Snape was yelling she'd find a way to smile through it. Her placement in Gryffindor was unclear to me since I thought she'd make an amazing Hufflepuff, but the sorting hat does what it does for a reason.

I loved having friends, it was different from reading or listening to music, I was making a connection with people who related to me in ways that I couldn't imagine until then.

We reached the station in the late afternoon and I frowned at the thought of leaving my friends. I had to go to my mom's for the first half of summer and I would go to my dad's for the last half. As we exited the train, luggage in hand, we searched the crowd for our respective families. I found the Weasley family quite easily due to their fiercely red hair and their large numbers. I scanned the crowd near them and saw my dad holding Ginny, the little girl, and conversing casually with Mrs. Weasley who was smiling and nodding kindly. I sighed heavily, knowing I might have to interact with the boy that hates me.

My small group of people was about to go our separate ways, but before we did I had to say goodbye for now. I gave them each a hug and we exchanged information and everything before I spun around to face the enemy I had found in Charlie Weasley. I pushed a trolley cart piled high with all my belongings towards the crowd of people who were conversing with my father. Percy was the first to notice and he waved politely. Charlie was already standing with his parents and he looked like he would love to leave except he looked very intrigued by the conversation.

"Hi, Dad," I exclaimed as I got close enough. He stopped the conversation abruptly and turned to embrace me.

"You've grown so much my little bee." he seemed so excited to see me it made my heart swell.

"I haven't grown that much." my speech was muffled by his cotton shirt. I pulled away and turned to face the Weasley clan, "Hello everyone. I hope your year as well."

"It was, you are such a sweet girl," Charlie gave a ridiculous eye roll at his mother's words. "If you ever want to come over for dinner you are very welcome."

She was the kindest woman I'd ever met, so loving and motherly. My mom was more like a best friend to me, which I suppose was problematic, but I turned out fine so that's that. I nodded at her statement and she engulfed me in a hug, and it did feel like she had adopted me as a new daughter. My father continued his previous conversation with Mr. Weasley and I squatted down to play with Ron. He was so cute and small and he laughed at everything which was very entertaining. My dad tapped my shoulder, signaling that it was time to leave. I was going to my mom's for the first half of the summer and then back to my dads the week before my birthday so I stood and said goodbye to the family in front of me and they all responded in some way except for one who I'm sure you can guess, and he just turned to talk to Bill instead of facing me. There was a major eye roll on my end for that display.

The summer holidays were lovely in Georgia. I went back to see all my muggle friends and we always were getting up to mischief around the swimming holes. They asked over and over how school was but I just had to lie and make up stories. I did talk about my friends but I didn't mention that we were magically gifted. We listened to Michael Jackson and Guns N' Roses on repeat and had an amazing time until I had to leave for my dad's again.

A week after my return was my birthday and Rachel came to get me from my room and brought me out to the kitchen where my dad was seated with a box on the table. It wasn't large but it also wasn't small by any means. It had holes in the top and I smiled knowing it was an animal of some sort. I squealed and rushed over immediately ripping the wrapping off and opening the box. Inside I saw a little cat. I pulled it out and it happily curled up in my arms.

"It's a kneazle-cat mix," my dad spoke up scratching the baby behind the ears, "He'll live for a long time."

I decided to name him Nox due to his dark color and the incantation to extinguish a wand. He was so sweet to me and he would follow me around the house if I decided to do anything. Over the rest of the break, I got a bunch of letters from Kat and Carlos, and a ton of phone calls from Leena since she was a muggle-born. I got most of my summer work done before I left for Dad's since I assumed he'd be letting me go to work with him more this summer, and I assumed correctly.

I went with him almost every day so I got to hang out with the dragons even more. I would bring Nox along and we'd sit at my father's desk and study his diagrams of the dragons and became familiar with the bodily functions the large beasts had. I began to think that injured ones didn't need to be killed or tied down, that they could be treated similarly to any other animal with veterinary medicine. When I brought it up to my father he seemed astounded and laughed at me.

"That's ridiculous, Bee." he chuckled, "They are beasts they cannot be tamed."

At that point, I was feeling a bit dejected but I still worked on it and did a lot of research. After about three weeks I received my school supplies list while drinking orange juice on the bay window where our family owl cage was hanging from the ceiling. The owl from Hogwarts landed outside and tapped nicely on the glass and both me and Cristoph, our family owl, jumped. I quickly undid the latch on the window and threw it open. The owl fluttered in, dropped the heavy parchment envelope on my lap, and returned the way it came.

"My school list came," I shouted over the coffee pot brewing. I opened the letter and read the list aloud, "So I need a new set of books and nothing else really, wonderful."

"We'll go to Diagon Alley next week," he responded from the other room.

"Can I tag along, I need a few things for work." Rachel was cleaning the counter. I smiled and pulled a few pieces of parchment out to let my friends know when I was going to Diagon Alley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Y'all! I know the way I'm skimming through her Hogwarts years is kind of odd but I really enjoy the way it's going. Make sure you let me know what you think <3 Love, Noelle


	5. Chapter 4: Quidditch Matches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza gets an exciting message about quidditch tryouts during her second year. She is also struggling with her frustration with a certain red-head.

Rachel, my father, and I got to the Leaky Cauldron first the next week. Leena and her parents arrived second and we ran to embrace each other. When Carlos got to the pub with his mother I immediately saw the resemblance. Leena and I attacked him with hugs from behind as he scanned the room for us. Kat was the last to show, probably since she was muggle-born and lived in France. Her parents looked so stunned to see their daughter have so many friends, and they looked happy that she was full of joy. Rachel wandered off soon after, and the rest of us headed in the direction of Gringotts, the wizarding bank and we agreed to meet back outside after we were done. Kat and her parents hovered in the lobby so they could exchange money and the rest of us headed off with different goblins. 

My grandma left my father a small fortune when she passed away five years previous and on top of his book sales, interview payments, and his salary, you could say he was very wealthy. I say ‘he’ because I have always believed that your parents' money is not your own, so he may pay for my things but I know in my head that one day I will repay him in one way or another. Anyway, he pulled out the pouch I had used the previous school year to keep the money I had, and he put enough money into the bag to at least last me until Christmas. He then pulled a separate bag out and filled it pretty moderately and I glanced up, raising my eyebrow. 

“Are you going to buy the bank?” I chuckled at him but he just shook his head indicating to me to leave it alone. I turned my attention to the goblin. He had long white hair pulled back into a low bun and his nose hooked toward the floor, “How much do you think it would cost to buy the bank, sir?” 

His beady eyes looked away from the treasure and focused on my face. He looked a little annoyed by the question and the look on his face made me a little uncomfortable, but I kept eye-contact until he rolled his eyes, “More than is in any vault in the whole of the bank.” 

I nodded, content with the response, but I figured, since this goblin seemed to know a lot about the bank, I’d ask him more questions, “Is it true there are dragons in the depths of the bank?”

He sneered and I gulped, he wasn't very kind looking but he had indulged a child in an answer to one question so he must have realized this was going to happen, “I have never seen one personally,” he had a grumbly low voice, “But who’s to say the legends aren’t true?” 

“Why wouldn't the builders of the vaults choose an animal that enjoys the underground?” I thought for a moment, “Like an enlarged mole or something.” 

“Eliza, that’s quite enough. He does not want to quench a little girl’s thirst for being an intrusive, nosy pest.” I remember being astounded at the nerve of the man who gave me life. I was silent for the whole trip up to the surface. We exited and I started to just run off with my small group when I heard my dad holler after me, “Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron in two hours.”

I turned to salute him, and my friends giggled and we turned to have as much fun as we could in two hours. We decided to get business out of the way first so we headed to Flourish and Blotts, the book store, and purchased the necessary books for the following year. I asked about books on dragon anatomy while my friends were browsing and I bought a couple of books on the subject as well. We then headed to the apothecary across the way and restocked our potion ingredients. Carlos was so determined to be the Ravenclaw seeker that he insisted we go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and help him pick out a new broom. Leena and I told him this was probably a little premature, but he didn't seem to care too much, and Kat was no help since she could not care any less about quidditch. 

We arrived in the shop and I caught sight of the telltale red hair of a Weasley, and from the looks of it, my least favorite one at that. Carlos noticed first and rushed toward him eagerly, but my girls stood by my side and looked to see if I was gonna leave. Since I was quite fond of confrontation, I continued to stroll on the same path Carlos had taken. My heart was going a little faster than normal, probably the anticipation of a good argument which I’d been without all summer. Carlos had caught his attention and he spun around with a cheerful look on his face until he saw me. The happy look morphed into one of contempt and I matched his expression.

“Hello Weasley, It's so lovely to see you again,” the sarcasm dripping from my voice was obviously like fuel to the fire that was his annoyance at seeing me here. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the secondhand quidditch book he had been looking at. He seemed to be just ignoring me and I couldn't have that, “You know I’m surprised you're such a good seeker, you're a little too short and stocky for the position.” 

“You don't know anything about quidditch, so don't pretend to, just to hit a nerve,” he spoke without turning to look at me and started walking to the counter to pay. He pulled out a few silver sickles and smiled half-heartedly at the wizard slouched with his elbows on the countertop, “This is it.”

“That will be twelve sickles,” the wizard spoke with an unexpectedly high voice. Charlie looked down into his hand, bit his lip, and went to a scarlet that was only a shade lighter than the jumper he was wearing. I felt a slight pang in my heart as I realized that he didn't have the money. It always made me feel bad since I had never really worried about money like that, so I took a few more steps forward.

“Er… I’ll just put it back… I don't have enough…” He stuttered through his sentences and went even darker red. I stepped up next to him and placed the twelve sickles on the counter swiftly and his head whipped to look at me. 

“I’ve got it,” I told the wizard who looked extremely bored by the encounter and he shrugged pulling the coins toward him and deposited them somewhere behind the counter.

“T-thank you,” Charlie stammered as he grabbed the book off the counter and turned to walk toward the exit with me. I grinned up at him and he suddenly looked even more uncomfortable.

“Don't thank me,” I chuckled patting him on the shoulder, “I’m sure I’ll need you to return the favor eventually, and now you can't say no.” 

He looked a little stunned but nodded anyway and exited the shop. I just then realized that all of my friends were staring at me open-mouthed.

“Close up or you’ll catch flies,” I quipped at them and they started laughing.

“That was rather nice of her, wasn't it, Leena?” Kat spoke very animatedly to Leena who was giggling.

“Why yes it was, and to the boy who she claims to despise, nonetheless.” She replied through her fit of giggles, and Carlos had to join in because why would he not seize the opportunity to poke fun of the unmockable.

“You know, I’d almost say he may be starting to grow on her,” he added, this earned him a quick slap on the hand which was sneaking up to my shoulder. I rolled my eyes for the second time in the shop and turned to look at a rather nice racing broom behind me. I scanned the placard and it read ‘Comet’. I tried to make it look like I was very interested in it so they’d stop pestering me about my recent ‘good deed’, but alas why would they stop.

“Oh look she’s blushing, she must be embarrassed, or maybe…” Kat said and I could hear her elbow Leena and Carlos both. I shot my head around because I thought they might be planning an attack, but instead, I saw them all grinning evilly at me.

“Maybe she likes Charlie,” they all three shouted out when I say my jaw dropped, my eyes widened and I fell backward into the Comet, I’m not joking. They all started chortling very unattractively in my opinion, and I just glared while pushing myself back to my feet. I didn't like Charlie Weasley at all and was revolted by the mere thought of it. I brushed my pants off slightly and strutted out of the shop. I didn't want to dignify their absurd theories with a response so I didn't, however, they seemed to take this in the opposite direction.

“She’s not denying it,” Leena spoke as they all fell over each other trying to get out of the store. I rolled my eyes. This was exhausting, I mean, how could anyone like a brainless buffoon like Charlie Weasley? Even if he did have very endearing freckles and an odd infatuation with dragons just like me, that didn't mean I was supposed to have a crush on him like every other girl at school as soon as we found out he was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. 

“I think, if you're going to get a broom,” I spoke over my shoulder, trying to change the subject, “The Comet one in there looked really nice,”

They all started chortling and following me up the street arm in arm like an odd four-legged race. As annoying as they could be, they really were the best people I ever could have asked to have as friends, and when I was with them time flew very fast, and the two hours dwindled in a snap. We went to meet our parents back at The Leaky Cauldron and I saw the clan of redheads clustered in there as well.

I wasn't too keen on interacting with them in case Charlie had told them what I’d done for him, so I got Rachel’s attention. I motioned for her to come over discreetly and she slowly rose from the table my dad and she was seated at and muttered something in his ear. “Please, excuse me.” She spoke clearly to the large group.

She made her way to me through the maze of tables and I made an awkward face at her. She looked back inquisitively. 

“Charlie told us what you did, it was very kind of you.” she spoke softly to keep her voice from carrying, “Molly would like to thank, why don't you come over and sit?”

“No, I would like that attention not drawn to me please, and thank you,” I said matter-of-factly. She smiled knowingly which scared me slightly. I side-eyed her and she chuckled, “I would like to leave as soon as possible without having any spotlight, can you make that happen?” 

She laughed a little louder than I would have liked and nodded knowingly again and I glared. She turned and strolled back to the group massed in the middle of the pub. My friends had joined the group now and they were all making furtive glances at me and I waved goodbye and made a few motions to signify that I’d write to them. They all looked at one another and then at Charlie and started laughing hysterically. My mouth fell open as I thought about how I had made friends with the most conspicuous people in the world. 

My dad looked up at me when Rachel reached him and again whispered in his ear. I smiled and gestured that I wanted to leave. He nodded and stood. “Alright, well, we ought to go look and see where that girl has got off to.” 

The group's various goodbyes were loud and scrambled but Mrs. Weasley did get up to give my dad and Rachel a kind hug and a few private words to which my dad rubbed her shoulder. I walked out into the small area behind the pub that leads to Diagon Alley and they soon followed me out. 

“What’s with all the secrecy?” Dad said as he exited the bar and spotted me. I shrugged and then decided in my head.

“I’d like to try out for the Quidditch team,” I told him in a determined voice, “And I’d like to make it.”

“Well alright then,” he chuckled and pulled me close to him as we Apparated to the point closest to our house and went home.

The rest of the summer went by very quickly because every moment of my time was spent practicing quidditch with my dad and Rachel who both had a bit of experience with it in one way or another. They said I was extremely skilled at flying but that came as no surprise because I had been doing it since I was very young since I wanted to ‘fly like Daddy’s dragons.’ They felt the safest way to prevent me from jumping off the roof was to give me a toy broomstick and let me fly around.

September first arrived and my mom met us at the house and we traveled to King’s Cross station together. I tried my best to avoid the Weasley family and my efforts paid off when I departed from the station without seeing any of them. I felt slightly bad because I wanted badly to talk to Mrs. Weasley again, but I couldn't handle how appreciative she would be and I would just be embarrassed. I also knew that Percy would be starting this year.

During the sorting, I made sure to give him a very noticeable thumbs up and he nodded curtly back at me which seemed just about right for his personality. He was sorted in Gryffindor with his brothers and they seemed very ecstatic and clapped loudly as he joined the table. 

I was having a pretty average go of things until the end of the third week of school when a sign was placed near the entrance of our common room. There were quite a few students gathered around there and I saw that Carlos was one of them. I strode up behind him and read the sign over his shoulder. It was less of a sign and more of a flyer which read:

**RAVENCLAW QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS**

**Positions needed: Chaser, Seeker, and Keeper**

**SATURDAY 27TH @ 10 AM**

**Wear proper attire.**

I then tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped which in turn made me jump. He seemed a little green and I gave him the best mom look I could muster. He forced a feeble smile and I drug him over to the high-backed chairs by one of the fires. I forced him to sit which he did without putting up a fight. 

“What’s wrong with you?” I prodded him on the arm and he just shrugged, and I gave him another look that said without words ‘Really?’. He sighed in defeat and ran a hand through his dark curls.

“I don't know if I’m good enough to get the seeker position,” he stared down at his hands that were in his lap. I rolled my eyes because I knew that he was the best seeker that I’d ever met. I got an idea after a second and rummaged through my bag to find the glass bottle of ink I kept corked tightly, “What are you doing?” 

I smiled mischievously and stood up from my seat in the corner of the well-lit common room. I strode across the room to stand in the opposite corner. I uncorked the small bottle and examined it nonchalantly. 

“This is my last bottle of ink, it's so silly of me to forget to buy more in Diagon Alley,” I spoke while examining the bottle more thoroughly and passing it carefully between my hands. He glared at me suspiciously and stood slowly from his seat. I started to talk more to myself than to him, but I kept my voice loud enough for him to hear, “I could ask Dad to send me more, but it would probably take a few days.”

I looked at him and smiled slightly at him. I then pulled my arm back and launched the bottle into the air about ten feet away from him. He stepped onto the chair and sprung his body off of it and towards the bottle, still soaring, not spilling a drop yet.  His arm outstretched his hand closed around the bottle and he landed catlike on his feet. 

“Are you mad?” he asked storming toward me, “You could’ve gotten ink all over Kat.”

He indicated over his shoulder as he got close enough to place the bottle in my hand quite aggressively. I hadn't realized that I had aimed the bottle in the direction of a girl hidden in an oversized armchair and that that girl happened to be one of my best friends. I was slightly taken aback by the anger, but I remained on a mission.

“That was impressive, imagine what you can do on a broom?” He looked a little stunned by my calm demeanor.

“You did that on purpose, didn't you?” I nodded like it was obvious and he shoved me on the shoulder, “I get it I can make it if I work hard or whatever.” 

I laughed at him and gestured to go sit with Kat and we studied for a while. I did find it interesting that he knew she was there since I hadn't seen her until I looked for her but I didn't think much of it then. We were all in good spirits for the next few days until the tryouts came. We both were trying out and Kat and Leena were going to come to watch. We ate breakfast on Saturday morning and headed out to the Quidditch Pitch. I wore a nice pair of leggings and a good short sleeve shirt paired with my trainers. The broom my dad bought me propped over my shoulder. Carlos had asked me why I was so confident that I would make the team, and I smiled slightly at him and just dismissed his question. 

We got to the pitch right on time and saw the Ravenclaw team flying around tossing the quaffle back and forth as we approached. The quidditch captain Amanda Lyson, a beater, met us at the edge of the stadium. She didn't smile and seemed very intimidating, but I didn't let that make me nervous. 

“Are you here to try out?” her voice was harsh.

“Yes,” we said in unison, and Carlos sounded like he was also trying to stay calm and collected.

“Names?” I gestured to Carlos to go first.

“Carlos Jiménez.”

“Eliza Strauss,” I said this when she looked up impatiently at me.

“Year?”

“Second,” we said in unison again. She raised her eyebrows at us which was the first sign of surprise, or any emotion for that matter, that she’d shown.

“Ambitious, I like that. The position you're trying out for?”

“Seeker,” Carlos said cheerfully and she looked up at him and he looked down again.

“I’ll be trying out for chaser.” 

“Okay, the group trying out for chasers is over there with Marcus,” Amanda pointed out a tall guy just landing and laughing. I recognized him, a fourth-year who was incredibly attractive, “And I’ll show you to Andre, he’ll be monitoring the seekers.”

“Thanks,” I spoke to her and grabbed Carlos on the arm, “Good luck, you’ll do amazing.”

“You too.”

As much as I’d like to give a detailed account of what happened at that tryout, I can't. I don't actually remember a second of it. I just remember leaving the tryout and being covered in sweat and dirt and talking to Carlos about the shower I was about to take when Leena and Kat ran up to us smiling widely.

“The rest of the people trying out were terrible,” Kat spoke like she knew anything about quidditch.

“They really were, they had nothing on you guys.” I laughed and we headed back to the castle and made our way to the dorms, so I could take a well-deserved shower and clean up before doing a charms essay that would be due on the coming Monday.

We both found out that Leena and Kat had been right to say that everyone else was terrible because not only had we both made the team, but instead of taking on a new beater they just put the reserve seeker, Andre Egwu, in that position. The next few months flew by in a blur of schoolwork, quidditch practices, and awkward encounters with Charlie Weasley in the corridors. 

The first Ravenclaw quidditch match was against Gryffindor and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to play against Charlie. They had just won against Slytherin and they had gotten a bit cocky in the corridors. Amanda was very strict when it came to practices and she even made sure we were eating the right foods when we were at dinner the week before the match. She was very cool overall and I really liked her, and, on top of that, she was an amazing beater.

The last Saturday of November came very fast and I woke up way too early for the 11 o’clock start time of the match. I checked the small clock sitting on my side-table and saw that it was six-thirty in the morning. I didn't think I could go back to sleep so I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I pulled back the blue curtains around my four-poster bed and grabbed my shower supplies. I wrapped my fluffy Ravenclaw robe that I bought in Diagon Alley around me and headed to the dormitory bathrooms. 

I showered, brushed my hair and teeth, washed my face, and changed into my quidditch robes before going back to my room. I found Leena sitting in her bed looking out the window that was positioned between our beds.

“ ‘s Almost perfect conditions for quidditch today,” she whispered this to me as I sat across from her, “It won’t rain, hardly a cloud in the sky actually.”

“Yeah, it looks wonderful.” 

“What’s wrong?” she immediately snapped her head up at my words. I chuckled because I should’ve known she would hear it in my voice if I was even a little off.

“I don't know what you mean,” I said this in the process of toweling dry my hair and I felt something soft collide with my back. I whipped around and stared at the white pillow that laid at my feet, “Did you just throw that at me?”

“You know that I can tell when you're lying so what’s the point?” she glared harshly at me and I returned the look, but more out of frustration for her being right. 

“I’m nervous,” I muttered, splitting my hair down the center to attempt a french braid. 

“Well that's understandable,” she waved her hand at me, “You’ll be playing a very dangerous game in front of the whole school. How much scarier can it get?”

“No, it's no that,” I shook my head and she raised her eyebrows. 

“Then what’s binding you up?” she asked this and twirled her index fingers around each other as a physical show for the word ‘binding’.

“I… it's just…” I started over again because I thought she would tease me for the real reason, “I’m afraid to play against Gryffindor.”

She paused, slightly puzzled before a wave of realization crashed into her. A smile that had been planted at the start of the conversation was growing into a sprout as she started to point her finger at me. 

“Don’t you do that,” I warned as the smile’s stem grew longer, “Stop, I do not like him?

“You do,” she shouted and I started to shush her since there were three other girls in our dormitory but all of them were wide awake as they heard the shriek about a secret crush, “You do, you do, you do. You are a horrible liar. I knew it. Kat’s going to be thrilled.”

“Who does Eliza like?” the girl who slept on Leena’s right, Angela(Angie) Owens, asked excitedly. I rolled my eyes and threw myself back on the bed. 

“Ch-” but before she could respond fully I pounced on her and covered her mouth with my hand. 

“Don't be daft, I don't like anyone. She’s just being dramatic,” I laughed but they didn't seem to be buying it, “Honestly it’s a bit early for breakfast, you all could go back to sleep, even.” 

They looked around at each other and that was when I realized the devastating mistake I had made. They thought that since I was trying so hard to keep Leena from saying anything that I truly did like the Weasley boy, but that was not true in the slightest. I just wanted her to stop spilling the beans about my pre-match nerves. 

After meeting Carlos in the Great Hall and my small breakfast of toast and pumpkin juice, Amanda came over and told me and him that the team was heading down to the pitch, and that we should join. I scrambled around trying to collect all of my possessions, but when I looked up to see if the team was waiting for us, they weren’t. Carlos was sitting across from me and staring unnervingly at a bowl of untouched cereal in front of him. I looked toward him with a little bit of sympathy, but I had my own problems to work out. I stood up and laughed at the insane expression that crossed his face. 

“C’mon, or we’ll be late to our own debut,” I let out a strangled chuckle that gave away the fact that I was not at all prepared for the events to come. He rose very slowly, almost like he was trying to refrain from fainting on the spot. I started strutting toward the exit of the glorious hall, attempting to exude the confidence of a seasoned quidditch player. The problems that I previously mentioned were mostly about Charlie. But not in the way you think. I was so anxious about losing the match and having to listen to his aggravating voice boast about it for the next month.

We made it to the locker room with plenty of time to spare, so we began getting dressed in the old navy team robes that had been used for decades. I noticed a distinct smell of body odor in mine and decided that I would have to inquire about a way to fix that in my next charms lesson. For some reason, time seems to speed up as soon as you would rather it never move forward.

As a team, we grouped up and Amanda said a few words of what I guessed were supposed to be an encouragement. They were actually more threatening than anything and it did the trick for me. I was not going to be berated by that stupid orangutan for the next several months and I refused to let my captain down. After the morbid pep-talk, we all readied ourselves to go out onto the pitch. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a loud rumble of people shouting excitedly and eagerly awaiting the match to come. 

We exited the doors to the locker room and were greeted by chants and team songs that had been made up in the common room weeks in advance. I smiled and it felt like all my nerves melted away. All those people were there to watch me play. Well maybe not, but that’s what it felt like at the time. The beginning of the match blurred quickly and before I knew it I was in the air passing the quaffle to Marcus, a seventh year. He dropped the quaffle and cursed loudly as a Gryffindor chaser, of whom I did not know the name, caught it and dashed off toward their goals. 

The game was fast-paced and I could hardly hear anything besides my own heartbeat. A couple of times, I had to streak out of the way of a rogue bludger and Amanda or Randy would come flying past apologizing. Although the game was being played at a quick tempo, it felt like it had been going on for hours. Ravenclaw was up 130-40, but that meant nothing if Carlos didn’t catch the snitch soon. 

Minutes passed flying back and forth across the fields with no goals until I got the quaffle in hand within one hundred feet of the goalposts. I looked the sturdy Gryffindor keeper directly in the eyes as he hovered in front of the center hoop. I reeled my arm back and tried to make it look like I was looking at the right hoop but then I threw left and the strategic maneuver threw the keeper for a loop. As he dived to the right and my shot made it in the hoop, an explosion of cheers echoed around the stadium. 

I paused a moment to soak up the glory but felt a little flutter near my ear. First I realized the golden snitch was twittering above my right shoulder, the second was how loud the crowd had gotten, and third was that there were two boys on broomsticks charging directly toward me; one had fiery red hair and the other dark brown curls. I did exactly what my instincts told me to in that situation and dove extremely fast before I was crushed by the two young men. 

I reached the ground quickly and pulled up to see Marcus make not two, not three, but four goals because the keeper seemed to be completely enthralled by what was happening with the two young seekers streaking down the field after a tiny golden speck. The other Gryffindor chasers were trying to get the quaffle but Moira, the other Ravenclaw chaser, was grabbing the quaffle basically immediately and tossing it right back to Marcus, who seemed to be having quite a bit of fun. He ended up scoring thrice more to the delight of the Ravenclaws in the audience and the dismay of the Gryffindors. 

Seconds after his seventh goal in a row, a deafening cheer rose and I turned my head and Charlie Weasley was standing angrily clutching tiny gold wings in his hands and staring at the scorecard in the distant commentator’s booth. The team began to land and celebrate as we hugged and clapped each other on the backs. I made eye contact with Charlie twice but it almost seemed like he had been staring the whole time. 

The celebrations after such a win were exuberant, to say the least. And the following weeks contained an emotional high I’d never felt the nature of in my life. It was awesome. The rest of the year flew by and, even though Ravenclaw didn’t win the House Cup or the Quidditch Cup- it went to Gryffindor after they won their other two matches and we lost ours- I did pass all of my classes with decent grades and I got to learn all about the magical way to clean clothing the magical way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a wonderful time writing this, but I'm also super easily distracted so please bear with me. As always I would love your feedback! Let me know what you think <3 Noelle


	6. Cats and Christmases

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza's trip back to Hogwarts is an extremely eventful one, and she celebrates a great Christmas.

The summer between my second and third year was just as awesome as the previous one. I hung out with the same friends almost every day, I ate a ton of ice cream and sun-bathed to my heart’s content. Toward the end of summer, I had an especially horrible day when I had my first period. My dad found me having an absolutely ridiculous fit about the blood in my sheets and he, in turn, freaked out and thought we needed to go to St. Mungo’s, but Rachel came in when she heard the commotion and ushered my dad out of the room and told him to go and call my mom. She told me that she didn’t want to impose on my mom’s boundaries by explaining it all but she did give me a basic outline of what was happening. She also showed me where she kept her sanitary products. An hour or so later my mom appeared at our front door with ice cream and crisps in hand, and she sat with me on my bed and answered all of the questions I needed to be answered and she stayed for dinner.

The rest of the summer was relatively uneventful. We went over to the Weasley’s for dinner twice, but both times Charlie had found somewhere else to be, so we did not have to see each other until we got to platform nine and three quarters on September first. 

That morning I awoke with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had been having a wonderful dream about riding a beautiful Chinese Fireball when I felt arms wrap around my waist, and I jolted awake. There was no one around but Nox at the foot of my bed. He had grown to be about three times the size he was when we got him, but my dad said he would get even bigger. I sat up slowly, still feeling the ghostly arms around my middle. I rubbed my head trying to just get rid of the feeling, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of a loving presence with me in the room. I decided to get out of bed and get ready to leave.

We left about three hours later using the car that Dad had for emergencies or special occasions. He decided that he wanted to do it the muggle way that day because he and Rachel were going on a “muggle vacation” after they dropped me off, but I didn’t mind the ride. It wasn’t a long drive because we already lived in London. We met my mom outside of the station and we all walked through the station to the wall between platform nine and ten and I casually leaned against the wall with Nox in my arms and slid through simply. My dad and Rachel came through a minute later pushing my cart, and Mom strolled through after them. 

I immediately was bombarded by my small friend group. Kat screeched words in French at me and kissed my cheeks lovingly. Carlos ruffled my hair and gave me a little side hug. Leena full-blown tackled me and I laughed and gave them a rundown of my summer. They reenacted theirs as well and we all giggled excitedly about being back together. I noticed Kat giving Carlos little glances when she thought no one was watching and I made a mental note to ask her about it later. 

I saw the blob of red hair that was the Weasley family and asked my friends to excuse me for a moment. I rushed over and Ginny was the first to see me. She ran toward me and I threw my arms around her and she giggled. She then whispered something odd in my ear.

“Charlie said something about you this morning,” she laughed afterward and I pulled back to look her in her eyes and she giggled again and ran back to her mom who was watching the interaction lovingly. I stood up to my full height and padded over to the rest of their clan. Ron gave me a little wave and I waved back. The twins smiled mischievously at me and put their heads together which scared me a bit but I decided to ignore it for the moment. Bill hugged me and Percy shook my hand. Mrs. Weasley gave me a wonderful hug and I smiled at her now familiar scent. I turned to talk some more to Bill and Percy and came face to face with Fred and George. 

“We need to talk,” Fred said. He had a broader face than George and that’s how I determined who was who.

“Now if you could,” It really wasn’t a question that escaped the other young boy’s mouth but more of a statement. A warning more like because they promptly drug me from the cluster of Weasley and into a less crowded section of the station. There was still about fifteen minutes until we had to board the train, so I wasn’t anxious about being late. 

“What would you like to discuss, boys?” I spoke this with a slightly joking manner in my voice, but their facial expressions did not read like they were in the mood for my witty banter. I was a little concerned by the serious nature of their body language and was even more unsettled by the panicked look on Charlie Weasley’s face when we made eye contact over George’s shoulder. 

“So, you and our brother-” George had a crackly little boy’s voice but the determined look of a full-grown man.

“Hate each other, right?” Fred finished the sentence with a similar but more intense look on his face. It was a little scary sometimes how they finished each other's sentences. I stared for a moment as I registered the question they had asked. 

My immediate reaction was to say  _ Yes, of course.  _ But for some reason, those words got caught on the tip of my tongue. I looked around at Charlie again, and he was glancing nervously in my direction every few seconds. I frowned slightly. I wasn’t sure what answer they were expecting, but I didn’t want them to not tell me what was up because I answered wrong. They both raised their eyebrows as the silence grew.

“Yes,” answering quickly after such a long silence seemed to affirm something they had previously talked about. I squinted at them suspiciously. I didn’t want to ask, but I decided it was in my best interest to find out what they were conspiring, “What are you two up to?”

They grinned devilishly at each other and George was the first to speak up, “Well, this morning when we were eating breakfast-”

“We were all talking about how Charlie’s internship was going with your dad was going-” Fred bounced off of his brother, continuing the statement with impressive timing. I wondered if they rehearsed this.

“And he was talking about how it was going so well-” George was practically bouncing in adolescent excitement.

“And how he loved it so much-” Fred was hopping from foot to foot.

“When Mom asked if he ever saw you around-” I cocked my eyebrow at George’s words. It always surprised me that people would ever talk about me when in the presence of Charlie. 

“And Charlie got all quiet-” Fred spoke within a higher octave.

“And he actually  _ blushed _ -” George thrust his hands out at me like he was presenting evidence. My eyebrows shot up even further at this information.

“He never does that-” Fred laughed loudly. 

“So of course we teased him relentlessly-” George said solemnly like it was a decision he just had to make.

“Until he finally revealed that he, and I quote-” Fred paused dramatically for effect.

“ _ Just thinks you’re really cute, _ ” they both practically squealed in unison. If someone had looked at me at that moment they would have probably thought that I didn’t even have eyebrows, I’d raised them so far. What the boys were saying was so outrageous that I didn’t quite believe them. Their brother hated me. That was very much clear through every interaction we had ever had, so excuse me if I didn’t jump at the chance to hear about him calling me  _ cute _ . 

“You probably heard him wrong,” George sighed, and Fred shook his head violently at the way I was trying to throw a wrench into their story, “Or maybe you misunderstood his tone. Maybe he was being sarcastic and called me… cute … as an insult.”

George let out another sigh that made it sound like he was in mental anguish. Fred started to chuckle. Both George and I looked appalled at the sudden laughter.

“You know,” he chuckled again, “Bill said you wouldn’t believe it if we told you.” 

I let out a frustrated noise and rolled my eyes, “Alright, thanks for the chat, but I think I better be going now unless you’d like to tell me another preposterous story.”

I looked at them, half expecting them to protest my departure, but they didn’t. They just rolled their eyes in return and shooed me away. I was glad to get away from the young boys. As much as I loved them, they often decided to bother me at the worst and most stressful times. I headed back to my parents and noticed that Nox was nowhere to be seen. My eyes widened as the panic caused my stomach to be catapulted into my throat. 

“Where’s Nox?” I had interrupted a conversation about muggle cars which seemed significantly less important than my missing cat. My dad looked surprised by my sudden return. He processed my question quickly enough then looked back to my trunk to see the cat carrier that I had left him in earlier wide open and catless. 

“He was just in the cage,” he looked a little panicked and that definitely didn’t help the situation at all. So I started frantically looking around trying to spot the large black cat. It was too loud in the station for him to be able to hear my voice, so I began to, for lack of better words, lose my shit. My mother, of course, noticed and started searching for the cat as well, but she seemed more concerned with my emotional state than my poor cat’s well-being. 

“I’m sure he’ll turn up, darlin’,” she tried to sound reassuring, but her tone, for whatever reason, made me so much more anxious. As soon as she spoke those words, my eyes welled up with tears. I turned around toward the clock on the wall and it read  _ ten: fifty-six _ , and that was when it became a dire situation in my mind. But suddenly, I was pulled out of my despair by a light tap on my shoulder. 

“Um, I found him by a trash bin,” I turned to come face to face with Charlie Weasley himself, holding my cat in his arms and wearing an embarrassed expression on his face. I stared momentarily until I realized what was happening and I pulled Nox from his arms gently and squashed him to my chest. I then held him up to my face and gave him a talking to which, at the moment, seemed like the right thing to do.

“You gave me a right scare there, buddy,” I scolded lightly, “Don’t you dare do that again. You could have been lost or worse catnapped, and we can’t have that, alright?”

At that point, I glanced up at the boy who’d brought my cat back safely. He wore a mildly concerned expression. I first noticed how much taller he’d become since I’d last seen him, then I saw how uncomfortable he looked, last I realized how incredibly close we were standing. I guessed when I grabbed Nox from him I just didn’t think to step back. But, as soon as I noticed his proximity, I retreated a few steps. 

“Thanks,” I had barely gotten the word out before the train whistle blew. He nodded in response and dashed off in the direction of the scarlet steam engine. I hardly comprehended what was happening before my parents were ushering me off toward the train with my trunk in hand, and Nox secured inside his carrier. I was aboard the train and waving goodbye to my family before I could say that I’d found my lost cat. 

I walked slowly along the corridor to attempt to find my friends and not fall while the train shook and rattled. Instead of my friends, I found Merula Snyde and her friends. She seemed amused to see me without a compartment. I winced at the expression on her face, “Long time, no see,”

“Yeah,” I spoke awkwardly and tried to shuffle my way around her even though she was making that very difficult, “I’m, um, trying to find my friends,” 

“Who? Charlie Weasley?” I scoffed at this. It was an absurd thought that Charlie Weasley could ever be a friend. He was too pompous and full of himself to ever stoop so low as to apologize for being an epic prick- note my sarcasm-. She chuckled at my response, “I guess that argument never ceased, huh?”

“No, it did not,” I huffed out the short answer rather than saying something like,  _ No, he is still an incorrigible dingbat, and our feud will last until the moon falls from the sky.  _ She laughed out loud at this, and held an arm out to the compartment, “Well if you’d like to get your robes out and leave your trunk in here, there is a place for it. You’d find your friends much faster without it,” 

I squinted slightly at her. She was being suspiciously nice and it wasn’t something that seemed very in character for her. She laughed again, and it was an interesting sound. Similar to barks but slightly angrier. I wondered what she had to be angry about, 

“You don’t have to, it was merely a suggestion,” she put her hands up in surrender, and I shook my head.

“That’s not it,” I said quickly before she could retract the kind offer, “It’s just- why are you being nice to me?”

“Hmm,” she hummed and looked perplexed for a moment, and then she adopted a smug expression, “We share a mutual dislike of a freckled ginger,”

I laughed slightly at that and took her up on the offer. Her friends helped me slide my trunk into the overhead compartment and nodded at me as I exited the small space. I smiled slightly and thanked Merula as I walked toward the rest of the train.

“Don’t mention it,” she winked at me and I chuckled and turned my back on her wandering off to find my friends, Nox, and my robes curled up in my arms. I’d left the carrier in their compartment because I knew it was safe to assume Nox would be ok from here on.

I found my friends after the longest time and recounted everything that had happened since I’d left their company at the station. They were the best listeners. Except for when I barely even grazed over the subject of Fred and George saying that Charlie had called me cute. They forced me to stop, go back, and recount the whole thing word for word. After that, they gasped at all the correct moments and sighed strangely when I told them that Charlie brought Nox back. Finally, I was finished with my depiction of the Merula encounter and they all seemed at a loss for words. 

“What?” I was confused as to why they were confused. 

“Mon Cher,” Kat said in her most loving tone possible.

“You’ve just had a long day and it’s barely past noon,” Carlos responded, seeming to know what the other two were thinking. To confirm my thoughts the girls nodded sympathetically.

“Hmm, well, hopefully, that doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the year,” I responded thoughtfully.

“I couldn’t agree more, E,” Leena smiled at me enthusiastically and then went to her trunk and grabbed a book. I couldn’t help but think that they were all being kind of weird, but I tried not to dwell on it too much since that could lead to a very problematic overthinking session. 

The first half of the school year flew by in a flurry of classes, homework, and quidditch practice, and the workload had at least doubled from the previous year, however, it was relatively interesting, and I didn’t let it interfere too much with quidditch so by the time we broke for Christmas, I was feeling pretty accomplished. Since I was with my dad for Christmas and my mom for New Years I headed back to London on the train and intended to stay. My dad picked me up from the station and we returned to the house in record time, but he seemed slightly nervous about something.

“Alright, Dad,” I’d spoken up after the third time he’d rearranged the holly and poinsettia bouquet on the table without making any change to its appearance, “What’s up?” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” nonchalance was never my dad’s forte and this was not an exception. I rolled my eyes and looked at him again this time with an  _ I-call bullshit _ expression.

“That holly has looked the same since we got here and you’ve lain hands on it three times,” he sighed ridiculously like I’d caught him in the lie of the century. I rolled my eyes at his theatrics and gestured for him to verbalize his secret. He sighed loudly again.

“We were invited to the Weasley’s for Christmas Dinner,” he spoke quickly like the words were burning his tongue and he had to get them out as fast as possible or it would blister. I pursed my lips at the statement but I didn’t say anything. My dad knew about the small feud between me and Charlie and he tried to keep anything that had to do with him away from me so I wouldn’t have to deal with it when I wasn’t at school. Every time we’d been to the Weasley’s for dinner he had assured me Charlie would not be there and I truly appreciated that, but somehow I thought that Christmas Dinner would be a different ordeal, “I think we should go,”

“Well,” I stood up to go to my room, “Whatever you think is best,” 

I sulked for the next two days and eventually when I realized that my dad had made up his mind, I resigned to the fact that my Christmas would be severely damaged from something I can only describe as utter loathing. Christmas Eve arrived too soon, and this meant I would have to choose something to wear and wrap all of the small gifts I’d collected over the holidays. I decided on a pair of high-waisted jeans and a band tee-shirt that my mom had given me with a white long sleeve underneath, to account for the cold weather. 

The gifts were a different story. I was horrible at wrapping presents and this made for a difficult morning. I’d pulled a bunch of my mom’s American recipes out of a cookbook and copied them down into a smaller cookbook for Mrs. Weasley. For Mr. Weasley, I just got the old landline from the attic and called it a day. Bill was slightly harder, but I decided on a cursed lock that my dad had gotten me the year previous that was apparently for a novice curse-breaker, but I think that was a lie because I couldn’t figure it out. I put aside a bunch of nice quills and a decent bottle of ink for Percy. Fred and Geroge were simple because I had just brought all of the pranks I had leftover from the last Hogsmeade weekend home. So I split them into two groups and that was that. I found a couple of old toy dinosaurs I played with when I was young for Ron. I put together a bunch of my clothes from when I was little for Ginny because I’m sure she hated getting hand-me-downs from her brothers. And lastly, I debated very hard on whether I should actually bring something for my nemesis, but I decided it would be very rude of me not to, so I went to my old toy chest. 

I searched for a moment before finding the perfect thing. I wrapped and labeled all of the presents, and by the time I had finished, my dad was urging me to get ready or risk being late. I had already gone through the hassle of getting them all gifts, and I really was excited about the dinner Mrs. Weasley had prepared, so I put a bit of pep in my step and collected all of the gifts into one bag, and headed to the fireplace where Dad and Rachel were waiting. They smiled at my bag full of presents and I realized my dad had a similar bag in his hands.

“Well, I guess we had the same idea,” He chuckled and pointed at my coat hanging by the door. I grabbed it on my way around the couch and slipped it onto my body after setting the bag down. I picked it up and went to the fireplace. I was starting to feel a little nervous, but I wasn’t sure why “Why are you all dolled up?” 

I had decided to make a bit of effort with my hair, and I had put on a little mascara and lipgloss but I didn’t think much of it since it was Christmas after all, but my dad saying that made me feel like I should go take it off. Rachel seemed to see the panic on my face because she swatted his arm and mended his words, “He meant you look nice. It’s perfect for the occasion.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said, blushing slightly, “Alright let’s get on with it then,”

We used the Floo to get to the Burrow, which I’d done many times before, so it made no sense as to why I was so extremely nervous about stepping into their warm home. As soon as my feet hit their fireplace I was dragged out by little hands and I smiled down at Ron and Ginny who were responsible for the relentless tugging on my shirt. I set down the presents once again and leaned down to embrace them both. They giggled as I kissed the tops of their heads and joked with them about their height. 

Mrs. Weasley came bustling in a few minutes later when Dad and Rachel arrived. She immediately took the bags from us and was almost brought to tears when she realized they were gifts for all of them. She gave me a long hug and I just enjoyed the loving warmth she radiated. I then heard a loud commotion outside and she winked and told me to go on and play with the  _ big kids. _ I ran off and found Bill, Fred, George, and Charlie tossing a quaffle around and laughing about something. I looked to the garden wall where Percy was sitting reading something that looked suspiciously like the potions textbook. I rolled my eyes at his antics and scampered over to the other boys, three out of the four absolutely beamed at me and bombarded me with hugs. Charlie stood off to the side whilst this was occurring trying very hard at not looking very awkward. I walked over to him for a moment.

“I never got to properly thank you for finding Nox,” he squinted at me and I realized he probably didn’t know my cat’s name, so I clarified, “My cat,”

“That’s his name?” That was not the response I had expected, so I kind of flinched at his harsh tone.

“Whoa, Charlie,” Bill had stepped in and was smiling at both of us, “It’s Christmas, don’t be like that,”

“That’s exactly why I’m being this way,” he huffed and glared at me like my presence was an abomination, and as hurt, as I felt, there was more rage at his words than offense, so I ran with that feeling, “She’s invading our families Christmas, and she has no right,”

“Charlie, you’re being a bi-” Bill started, but he definitely did not have to defend me.

“Bill, don’t worry about it,” I hated that my voice had gone up an octave, “You don’t have to defend me since there is nothing to defend. I was invited, Charlie, and if that’s a problem for you, I’m so sorry, but why don’t you stop being a prick and let everyone enjoy their Christmas Eve so that I can go home and we can resume never talking to each other,” 

Fred and George were listening with bated breath and I noticed that even Percy had looked up from the textbook. Mrs. Weasley decided that that was a good time to announce dinner, but I continued to stare angrily into Charlie’s eyes. It wasn’t until Bill clapped him hard on the shoulder that he broke contact and headed inside. We all followed suit and I decided right then that I would not be letting Charlie Weasley ruin the night for me, so I put my cheeriest face on and had a wonderful evening socializing. 

We ate most of the delicious food that was presented to us and we spent time afterward drinking hot cocoa and talking happily until Ron and Ginny convinced their parents that they should open the presents we brought. I got nervous immediately but decided there wasn’t a whole lot I could do against two sets of puppy dog eyes. So the presents were passed around, two for each, and bustled off to find Dad, Rachel’s, and my gifts. We all went around and opened one at a time, for each person who opened my gift, I explained what it was and why I thought of them for it. I only did it because I got nervous that they wouldn’t like the gift, but they were the most grateful people I’d ever met so it got a little easier as it went on. I realized Charlie was the last one to open any gifts and the last one was mine.

He stared at it for a moment before carefully undoing the little bow I tied around the center and gently pulling the paper away from the present. At that point the twins were getting impatient and I was getting anxious so I was pleased when they started to mock him for taking too long, but he still handled the package with the delicacy you’d use with a baby bird, almost like he was afraid it would disappear if he went too fast. Finally, he pulled out a shoebox. I swallowed loudly as he opened it. He started to pull a small chest out.

I knew the chest very well. It was my favorite place to keep secret things when I was a child and it was covered with small intricate designs of dragons all over it. I had left some duplicate polaroids inside of the dragons at the sanctuary with their names and breed scrawled on the white. He smiled softly at some of the pictures. And then placed the chest to the side and pulled out the little notebook that was underneath it. It was one of the journals that my dad gave me from his time traveling with the dragons, so while it was my least favorite and the most boring, I still assumed Charlie would like it. He smiled again and looked up at me this time. 

His eyes shone a little bit and it made an uncomfortable feeling settle in my stomach, “Thanks, Eliza,” 

I sucked in a breath at his use of my name and then regained my composure and smiled politely back and nodded. I looked around and everyone was just staring in awe at the strange moment that had occurred. Mrs. Weasley made a weird gesture and somehow everyone got up and scurried about their business of cleaning up and playing with the things they got leaving the room deserted except for Charlie and me. 

I moved across the room and grabbed the polaroids. He gazed up at me apologetically, and I shook my head. I didn’t want him to apologize because I didn’t want to forgive him and become best friends who braided each other’s hair. I flipped through to the polaroid of the Antipodean Opaleye and smiled.

“Dalia,” I presented the picture of the large white creature to him while he watched me intensely, “She’s my favorite, she’s just so wise and calm,” 

“She,” his voice came out a little gravelly and he cleared his throat, “She let me touch her,”

“Yes, that was quite interesting,” I chuckled, “I had never tried that with anyone before, but I didn’t want her to eat you, so I thought I’d give it a shot. She normally only lets me touch her,” 

He nodded at this. He opened his mouth but it looked like he was gonna apologize so I quickly interrupted him.

“Do you want to know something interesting Fred and George said before the start of term?” It was technically a question but I wasn’t really looking for an answer. His eyes widened slightly which made me think he might already know what I was about to say, “They said that you had mentioned how cute you thought I was,”

A blush rushed to his cheeks and I got my answer, he had said that. He started sputtering and I just placed the polaroids back in his hand and walked out to go say my goodbyes. I’d decided we’d probably overstayed our welcome. So I rounded up my hugs from everyone and the sweater Mrs. Weasley made me and the treacle toffee she’d wrapped up as well. We left shortly after and I went to bed that night with a small smile on my face. 

After the holidays we all went back to school and I went the rest of the year with no real incidents with Charlie. Merula Snyde had started smirking at me in the corridors and now and again she’d offer a small wave. The term finished with Slytherin winning the House Cup and Ravenclaw in second, but Gryffindor still won the Quidditch cup which was definitely less infuriating than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry, my updating schedule is kind of weird, but I am super unmotivated most of the time, but I do appreciate any support you can give!   
>  <3 Noelle


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